Sanwol and Sansan’s faces turned red as if burned in an instant. Indeed, it wasn’t the kind of talk to have openly in the imperial palace in broad daylight. Especially not with the person’s younger sister sitting right beside them. The palace eunuchs and court ladies standing nearby were also flustered and couldn’t hide their expressions, so they just bowed their waists even deeper for no reason.
The Emperor also couldn’t hide his bewildered feelings. He’d been joking around, thinking at most he’d hear something about being a bit inadequate and unable to perform as a man—how could he have known he’d actually hear that there were no balls?
He had simply been curious what color those amber eyes would take on if colored with excitement. Though a rare beauty, he was still a man, so the plan had been to prepare a small pavilion for him outside the inner palace, keep him for a few days, then send him away.
“Han-ho, are there occasionally those born as eunuchs without being castrated?”
The Emperor asked a head eunuch. Though the Emperor, who had gone on countless personal campaigns, experienced all kinds of trials and even slaughtered all his brothers, couldn’t be said to have lived only elegantly, this was still news he’d never heard before.
In fact, those born in the imperial family, no matter how different their degree of preciousness, were all of the Son of Heaven’s bloodline—even rotten they were still noble. He’d never kept close those who fell outside the ordinary category throughout his life.
“Though it is presumptuous to report, I have only heard rumors that occasionally among the lowborn commoners there are such people, Your Majesty.”
At that moment, bang—the Emperor’s hand struck the arhat bed’s table hard. Immediately, Head Eunuch Han knelt and bashed his head against the ground audibly.
“This slave has committed a mortal sin. Please forgive me.”
“He is Concubine Yoon’s older brother, so privately becomes related to me, and you said what? I’ve never seen such a lightning-cursed bastard.”
“This slave has committed a mortal sin. Please forgive me.”
“This slave has committed a mortal sin. Please forgive me.”
“This slave has committed a mortal sin. Please forgive me.”
Head Eunuch Han bashed his head against the floor three more times repeatedly. Only when his red blood soaked thoroughly into the carpet imported from the Western Regions that covered Yeongnyeong Palace’s tea room floor did the Emperor raise his hand as if that was enough. Head Eunuch Han quickly stood and bowed at the waist.
A heavy silence descended on Yeongnyeong Palace’s tea room. The head eunuch, who was the chief of countless eunuchs, had drawn blood from the Emperor’s fury. All the palace servants held their breath and only watched the Emperor’s mood. The same went for the oblivious Sansan.
Sansan was so frightened by the current atmosphere that his fingertips trembled, and he felt suffocated. He was afraid that for no reason he, or Sanwol, or his parents would be blamed and draw blood. So like Head Eunuch Han had done earlier, he also put his head to the ground and just hid his face.
“Unless I specifically command it, do not hide your face from me.”
But the Emperor didn’t permit even that. With a face that looked like he’d cry any moment, Sansan lifted his head again.
“I apologize on his behalf for his slip of the tongue. Will you accept it?”
“……O-of course. Please forgive him, Your Majesty.”
“However, I need to confirm whether what you said is true or whether you’re mocking me.”
“……What?”
“If it’s false, then it becomes contempt of the Emperor, so I intend to exterminate three generations. Is it true that you’re a born eunuch?”
“It’s, it’s true! Absolutely, absolutely not a lie,”
“Someone—.”
At the Emperor’s call, Songhwa, Yeongnyeong Palace’s head court lady who had been performing a kowtow beside Concubine Yoon, quickly stood and hurriedly bowed at the waist.
“Your Majesty, please command.”
“Bring a screen. I will confirm it personally.”
Sanwol squeezed her eyes shut. Except for Sansan, there was no one present who didn’t know what the Emperor meant by confirming personally.
In other words, the Emperor was saying that in this place with so many people, with only a screen between them, he would strip off Sansan’s pants and look at his genitals.
Sansan, who was both inadequate and particularly slow in such matters and didn’t understand at all what this meant, looked at his younger sister as if seeking an answer. But Sanwol couldn’t bear to meet her brother’s gaze directly.
In the end, she turned away from Sansan’s gaze with her fist clenched tight enough for blood to seep into her palm.
***
## 4. Wrongly Fastened Button
The screen was quickly set up. The Emperor personally grasped the wrist of the kneeling Sansan and pulled him up. Then, before Sansan could even be flustered, he dragged him straight behind the screen.
Behind the screen was placed the table where Sanwol usually read books or did embroidery. The Emperor released Sansan onto the silk-covered surface almost like pushing him.
“Remove everything below and lie down properly on the table.”
“Ah……, I……”
Sansan couldn’t follow what on earth was happening at all. After asking why he couldn’t marry, suddenly everyone was being frightened, and despite reporting he was a eunuch, not believing it and suddenly telling him to remove his lower garments.
Sansan, who had the bad habit of unknowingly shouting and stamping his feet when frustrating or incomprehensible situations reached their limit, became deeply afraid he might display such disgraceful behavior even before the Emperor. If he did, his head would surely fly off.
“Must, must I show you?”
Sansan, who lacked the ability to explain well what emotions he was feeling, barely steadied his breath quickening from frustration and asked.
“Since I asked to see it, you must show me.”
He wanted to ask back why he had to show it, but being overwhelmed by the previous situations and having eaten his fill of fear, and also afraid that asking back might excite him and cause him to unknowingly throw a fit, Sansan bit his lower lip tightly and fussed with his robe, obediently bringing his hand to his waist.
He left the belt securing the robe alone and only untied the pants’ knot. Then the wide-legged pants fell to the floor in an instant. After also untying the knot of his undergarments, he looked up at the Emperor with eyes that seemed about to cry. Since the white robe reached down to a span below his knees, his lower body wasn’t immediately exposed.
The Emperor gave his gaze to the pale, slender ankles revealed before his eyes, then grasped the slender waist wrapped in the belt with both hands and abruptly, without warning, lifted Sansan up.
“Eep!”
Sansan, whose bottom was seated on the table in one breath, rolled his eyes here and there in all directions, revealing his anxiety to the fullest. But to the Emperor’s eyes, that looked rather like inciting him instead.
Perhaps because moisture gathered, the more anxious he became, the lighter the pale brown eyes appeared. At the water-laden eyes that looked even dreamlike, the Emperor felt an inexplicable thirst. Within that thirst, he indulged in admiring those eyes to his heart’s content as he’d wanted. Only after that did he open his mouth.
“Lie down and show me.”
Though he didn’t want to, Sansan had no choice but to lie down. Just because he was inadequate, how could he not know any shame?
Though he didn’t know what this act implied, he knew that showing his incomplete genitals to others was an embarrassing thing. Moreover, with just one screen between them, his younger sister sat on the other side. He just wanted to die.
When Sansan lay down properly on the table, soon the Emperor’s hand grabbed those legs and lifted them onto the table. The two thin, straight legs spread apart and the robe also split left and right, finally revealing Sansan’s bare lower body before the Emperor’s eyes.
“Hngh.”
For some reason, tears came naturally and Sansan sniffled.
“How can I tell by looking like this? Lift your cock. If I see traces of castration, I’ll immediately exterminate three generations, so you must show me properly.”
Sansan reluctantly grabbed and lifted his drooping penis. Tears rolled down, flowing along his temples to wet the silk cloth on the table.
“Indeed, it’s smooth without any trace of a blade.”
“……Ye-es, it’s, it’s not false. It really wasn’t there originally.”
It was the moment when Sansan, thinking it must be done now that everything had been confirmed, was about to draw his knees back together. A strange cry burst from Sansan’s mouth—”Hng.” The Emperor, who had pushed Sansan’s two thighs up toward his stomach with his large hands, had brought his other hand to the spot where the testicles should have been.
“Ah, ngh!”
The Emperor, just as Lee Ja-yoon had done a few nights ago, pressed the flesh there with his thumb and index finger, searching for any testicles that might be there.
“Hmm. As your mother said, it seems correct that they’re not cryptorchid either.”
The Emperor removed his hand from Sansan’s lower body and looked down at that face. The pale white face was flushed to its limit, and tears were beaded strand by strand on the densely fan-like eyelashes. For no reason, a face that made him feel strange.
“Why are you crying?”
“……I, I am deeply sorry, Your Majesty.”
“Are you embarrassed?”
Sansan’s thighs were still pressed against his stomach. The Emperor, who wouldn’t even let him lower his legs, was too uncomfortable and frightening.
“I asked if you’re embarrassed.”
“……Yes.”
“We’re both men, so what’s embarrassing?”
Footnote:
Exterminate Three Generations (삼족을 멸하다) – Execution punishment extending to three generations of family
